Paper no. 925	16. 02. 2004
THAILAND: Troubled by terrorists by C.S Kuppuswamy  “ we  are afraid terrorists will try to use Thailand as a place to   launch  their activities against international targets”  - Thai  Defence Minister Thammarak Isarangura (FEER – 10 July, 2003)  Introduction  After Indonesia and Philippines, Thailand is the next South East Asian nation to be affected by terrorist menace.  Call them terrorists, militants, separatists or insurgents  - they have been responsible for a series of incidents in Southern Thailand since the beginning of this year (2004) that has forced the government to declare martial law in most of the affected region and  concede that separatist militants are operating inside the country. The Thai Government had so far dismissed such incidents as linked to banditry and that the motivation for such incidents  was more criminal than political.  In the war against terror, especially after the Bali bombings of October 2002, both Malaysia and Indonesia exerted pressure on the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) activists on their soil.  As a result, it was believed the operational leadership of JI fled to Thailand.  The Thai government and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra continued to deny that terrorists were operating inside Thailand.  However, the arrests made in June 2003 of three men plotting to bomb western embassies in Bangkok during a regional summit brought to light the existence and movement of terrorists in Thailand much to the embarrassment of the Government.  Later the Thai police also nabbed a school  teacher who was trying to sell the ingredients for a “dirty bomb”.  When Hambali, the mastermind behind the Bali bombings and operational chief of JI was arrested in Thailand in August 2003, the Thai government realized that terrorists are also functioning  in their backyard.  The Muslims of Thailand   The Muslim minority of approximately 6 million amounts to 4 % of the total population of Thailand.  The vast majority of these Muslims are Malay in origin, the remainder being Pakistani immigrants, ethnic Thai Muslims and a few Chinese Muslims.  The majority of the Muslims are Sunnis though the Shias are also sizeable in some of the areas. About 10 % of the total Muslim population are Wahabis.  Wahabism is the same strict band of Islam followed by terrorist Osama bin Laden.  The Wahabis are certainly influential, both politically and economically.   This is one of the reasons for some Thai leaders to believe that JI is trying to make inroads into Southern Thailand.  The Muslims are concentrated in the provinces of Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala at the southern end of Thailand.  Even today the area occupied by these Muslims is much poorer than the rest of Thailand.                        Thailand                                                       Southern Thailand                                                                     Historical Background   The bulk of the region now occupied by the Muslims in Southern Thailand was annexed by Thailand in 1902 as a buffer against British Malaya.  The Islamic sultanate of Pattani is considered by some to be the cradle of Islam in Southeast Asia.  When the area was taken over by Thailand, it had been mostly autonomous for several hundred years.   Thais and Malays differ greatly in their languages, religion and sensibilities. Because of these differences separatists have mushroomed in this region with the aim of seeking reunification with Malaysia  The government’s policies have also not been beneficial to these Muslims.  The southern provinces of Thailand where the Muslims are located are some of the country’s poorest and undeveloped provinces till date. One of the reasons attributed for this is that corrupt officials have pilfered funds earmarked for development. The misadministration of the government combined with the highhandedness of the army personnel aggravated the alienation that was already prevalent.  Daily life in the urban areas was affected by common banditry and lawlessness making it difficult for the authorities to differentiate these activities  from that of the separatists or militants.  Muslim separatist groups are known to be in Thailand since the 1950s and were involved in drug trafficking along with Communist Party of Thailand to raise funds for their political and insurgent activities. The Muslim separatist movement had disintegrated into a number of small groups and as a result there was no concerted effort to fight for their separatist aim.  These are some of the well known separatist groups of which some are banned :              Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO).  New Pattani United Liberation Organisation  Barisan Revolusi National (BRN)  Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani (GMIP).  United Front for the Independence of Pattani –Bersatu  Mujahideen Pattani Movement (BNP)  Barisan National Pember-Basab Pattani (BNPP)  Mujahideen Islam Pattani  The separatist activity was at its peak in the 1970s and 1980s and the government successfully defused the secessionist movement by granting greater religious freedom, tough security measures, improved communications and development measures. Interaction with the neighbouring countries, especially Malaysia which was providing refuge for some of these separatists, had also helped the process.  However as Surin Pitsuwan, a former foreign minister puts it  “while politically and economically, (southerners) are oriented toward Bangkok, culturally, they are still part of the Malay world”.   It is now evident that the Thai Muslims have not been completely pacified  There were some isolated incidents in 2000 and 2001 which were handled promptly and efficiently by the government. However since September 11 and Thailand’s support to the US war against terror the incidents are on the rise and the series of incidents in January 2004 has come as a rude shock to the nation.  Recent incidents  The recent spate of incidents started on 4  January, 2004, when an Army depot in Narathiwat was raided by more than 30 armed insurgents resulting in the death of four Thai soldiers.  More than 300 weapons including some assault rifles, pistols and machine guns were stolen.  18 Government run schools in the same area were also burnt.  On the next day two policemen were killed while trying to defuse a bomb.   Suspected Muslim rebels attacked a police station using grenades and machine guns.  There were some more incidents of attacks on police stations, explosions and threats of bombing.  There were some civilian casualties also. The area  in the grip of terror was tense for nearly two weeks from the time the incidents started.  There were some more incidents in end January and early February 2004.  On 24 January 2004, two Buddhist monks along with a policeman were killed in two separate incidents  one in the province of Yala and one in Narathiwat.  On 6 February 2004, a gunman on a motorcycle killed a policeman in Narathiwat and  a solider in Pattani  was killed by two armed men on a motorcycle.  In all 14 personnel which included security, government and religious figures have been killed till 07 Febrary 2004. There have been varying reports on the group responsible for these attacks.   Prime Minister Thaksin blamed the group Mujahideen Islam Pattani for the attack on the army depot.  A government security adviser blamed the group, the Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani and said it had links to Al-qaeda and the regional network Jemaah Islamiyah (BBC News). General Rattanchaya, a former Army commander, said that the professional nature of the attacks “which included coordinated  arson on several schools and an arms depot at the week end”  indicated the gunmen had outside help “possibly from Kampulan Mujahideen Malaysia”.  Action  taken by the Government.  On 5 January, 2004, The Thai Government imposed martial law in the three southernmost provinces – Narathiwat and Yala (which border Malaysia) as well as Pattani.  The martial law gives freedom for the military to search homes and detain suspects without any charge.  3000 troops have been deployed in these three provinces to stabilize the situation.  More than 30 persons have been arrested.  Help by way of intelligence sharing and cooperation has  been sought for from Malaysia and Indonesia.  Malaysia has promised to enforce necessary measures to bar the suspects from fleeing to its territory.  Jakarta has been asked to monitor Thai Muslim students in Indonesia for any links with terrorist groups. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a secret and unscheduled visit to the southern provinces on 13 February, 2004 to tackle the prolonged unrest.  The Deputy Prime Minister, senior ministers and top military officers had gone a day earlier to this area to take stock of the situation and brief the Prime Minister.  Reaction of the local Muslims.  * Nik Abdul Ragib, a Thai-Malaysian relations expert, in Narathiwat  feels that “people do not support separatists, they only fear for their safety, which means less cooperation with the authorities.  By putting martial law into force the government will only widen the gap between the people and the authorities”.(BBC News-8 January 2004).  * The Muslim community leaders and businessmen warned that heavy handed government action could drive away tourists and foreign investors as well as disrupting people’s day to day lives.  * “Government operations have destroyed the creditability of the religious leaders and institutions.  The Muslim community will not provide further cooperation unless the government stops such thug like measures” the statement of the Islamic Committee of the southern province of Pattani said. (BBC News).  * Surin Pitsuwan, an MP and former foreign minister, writes “ A tactic of an eye for an eye has been adopted to suppress the violence.  Yet without sensitivity to Muslim culture, heavy  handed activity may lead to further tension and more serious conflicts (FEER – 12 February, 2004).  Conclusion  One of the reasons for the resurgence for separatist activities in southern Thailand can be attributed to Prime Minister Thaksin declaring that the insurgency to have come to an end in 2002 and for abolishing the joint command of the military and the police established in the region.  Thailand’s active role in the US-led war on terrorism and obtaining the status of a major non-NATO ally has also alienated the Muslims who see the global conflict as a war on Muslims.  Some analysts feel that the international situation has inflamed the local ones.  Since the ultimate aim of Jemaah Islamiah is to have an Islamic state across south east Asia, the discontented separatist groups of southern Thailand could have been tapped by the JI operatives to destabilize Thailand.  The arrest of Hambali and a few other JI operatives in Thailand goes to confirm this observation.  Surin Pitsuwan, a Muslim and a former foreign minister of Thailand,  points out that the Muslims do not object to the government or its representatives but they do object to the oppressive and exploitative nature of these entities’ presence.  He enumerates some of the flawed policies of the government such as, Village Fund Programme and legalisation of Lotteries in the area which are against the tenets of Islam.  He is asking the government  to concentrate on human resource development  and to provide  better educational facilities for the Muslims in this area.  The situation in southern Thailand as of now is not as grave as that of Indonesia (with Jemaah Islamiah) or Philippines (with Abu Sayyaf and the Moros).  There are far too many disparate separatist groups with limited organizational capability, poor leadership and virtually no public sympathy or support.  However there is possibility of the regional terrorist network (JI) taking advantage of the prevalent situation to lure some of these groups to pursue their aims.   Thus, what is required is deft handling of the situation with a firm grip on the security aspect. Thailand may have to revert to some of the measures adopted in the 1980s to quell the separatist movements. While specially trained forces may have to be deployed to overcome the militant and terrorist threat, renewed development of the area combined with a psychological campaign, keeping in mind the sensitivities of the Muslim community, has to be launched to win back the trust of the people of this region.
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